Archive for November, 2009

It pains me to do this, it really does, but this week I find myself giving the Musicians Of The Week award to the aptly named group Faker who, for all intents and purposes, manage to fake singing really badly…it could hardly be worse. However, it’s not their musical ability (or lack thereof) that I’m interested in this week, rather it’s the lyrics of the feature song “This Heart Attack” which seem apt to cover the last few weeks.

Enjoy, or don’t…probably the latter, until it grows on you anyway.

Incidentally, a big hello to the folks at EMI Music who have disabled embedding of this on YouTube and forced me to find an alternative version. Thanks guys, you’re all so very helpful.

I’m going away to be alone
I’m coming back with answers
Aah aah, aah ahh
Don’t try to call my telephone
It’s disconnected
Aah aah, aah ahh
And I don’t know where I’m going
But can you guide me?
Aah aah, aah ahh
If I find love where I’m going
Will it survive me?
Aah aah, aah ahh
‘Cause in your own space you’re disconnected
And in your own mind you’re not affected
And in your own time you’re still attracted
But in your own li-i-ife…

This heart attack
I’ve gotta get away not coming back
I want some downti-ime
so call me when you can and I’ll be fine

I’ve found the time to be alone
I don’t know what you’re asking
Aah aah, aah ahh
I’m waiting by the telephone
And you’re still barking
Aah aah, aah ahh
My heart stops it isn’t… going
Could you revive me?
Aah aah, aah ahh
I think I’m lost without knowing
So come and find me
Aah aah, aah ahh

‘Cause in the same space we’re disconnected
And in your own mind you’re not attracted
But in your own life over reacted
And in your own ti-ime

This heart attack
I think I’ll go away not coming back
I’m off the li-i-ine
so call me when you can some other time
This heart attack
I’ve gotta get away not coming back
I want some downti-ime
so call me when you can and I’ll be fine

I’ve got your back
but you don’t got mine
This heart attack
then I’m feeling fine

This heart attack
I’ve gotta get away I’m not coming back
I’m ’bout to flatli-ine
So call me when you can some other time
This heart attack
I’ve gotta get away not coming back
I want some downti-ime
So call me when and I’ll be fine

I’m going away to be alone
I’m going away to be alone
Going away to be alone
I’m going away to be alone

Samuel

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It’s truly amazing how much can happen when I take a hiatus, and I’m pleased to see something positive happening.

In large part thanks to Climategate (which I’ll discuss separately as it really needs its own article), a large number of truly conservative politicians in the Liberal Party have found the courage to stand by the convictions and announce their (accurate) belief that man-made global warming is a crock, and that the Emission Trading Scheme (or Carbon Pollution [sic] Reduction Scheme, or whatever you want to call it) is a giant tax which will only lead to a massive redistribution of wealth, something which the Rudd government have effectively admitted.

From one day to the next we hear a different figure about how much the Everything Taxed Substantially (OK, sorry, couldn’t help myself) will cost per household per year, but we keep being assured that it’s all OK, because there will be subsidies for low-income households. In other words, we’ll tax everyone, but we’ll cancel out the tax for people who we declare to not be “rich”. We will redistribute wealth…we won’t fix the climate.

In fact, the ETS has nothing to do with the climate any more. Even the Greens, the great purveyors of climate doom, are not supporting the ETS in its current form. If the Greens won’t support it, how can it possibly have anything to do with the climate?

We are being fed lies by Kevin Rudd, Penny Wong et al about the climate and about the ETS. They want to have their ETS in place before the cHOPEnCHANGEn climate conference (Barack Obama is visiting the conference on his way to receiving his Nobel Hope And Change Peace Prize) because they know that, with all of the publicity that the proposed climate treaty’s bizarre “one world government” junk has been getting, along with the Climategate emails, there is no chance of a treaty being signed, and that will kill off their attempts to pass an ETS once and for all.

The conservatives inside the Liberal Party know this. They know that man-made global warming is a fraud. They know that the ETS is a giant tax, and above all they know that agreeing to pass the ETS will result in them simply being a watered-down version of the Labor Party which will never attract enough Labor voters to form government. As strange as it may be, Malcolm Turnbull’s leftist reign over the Liberal party has done more for the conservative movement than it could ever have done for the left-wing movement if he had joined the Labor party.

So, the Liberal Party are faced with a choice on Tuesday morning. Malcolm Turnbull, Joe Hockey, Tony Abbott or some other as yet unknown challenger. If Malcolm’s rhetoric this weekend is anything to by, he is not going to leave of his own accord, which effectively rules out Joe “I want to be anointed, not voted for” Hockey as leader. I have mixed feelings about this.

Joe Hockey is photogenic, for lack of a better word. To the majority of the electorate who are more interested in Tiger Woods’ marital problems than the state of the nation, Joe is a large, jolly, Santa Clause-esque figure who could easily attract the personality vote in the way Kevin Rudd (Kevin ’07) and Barack Obama (hope and change) did in their respective elections. To the same extent though, Joe believes that humans are causing global warming and is yet to rule out supporting the ETS. There is a huge risk that, with Joe as leader, the Liberal Party may remain fractured and the ETS may go through.

I thought that Julia Gillard made one good point during her excruciating ramble on ABC TV’s Insiders this morning, and that was that Joe Hockey visited John Howard for advice this weekend…John Howard, a man who, as much as I think he was a great Prime Minister, did jump on the global warming bandwagon towards the end of his tenure in an effort to regain the support of the electorate.

Joe is being referred to as a “consensus candidate” which is a description that I’m pretty sure the media have invented. Nobody can work out where this consensus comes from, and that’s because it doesn’t exist. The word that the media were actually looking for is “moderate”, the same word that we would use to describe 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. Not a conservative, but a moderate. A sort of “none of us quite agree with everything he says, but we can tolerate him more than a bloke from the other side of the political spectrum” internal Party mediator. The trouble with moderates is that they can never attract enough voters away from the other party, and ultimately fail because they don’t stand for anything.

I responded to Joe’s cry for help on Facebook the other day, informing him that if he opposes the ETS, he can regain my support. That support though, on reflection, can only go so far as a front bench position. Joe Hockey as leader is untenable, and would be slaughtered by Labor attack ads at the next election. I can see the ads already:
“This man said he believed the IPCC’s report in to climate change, now he says he doesn’t believe it. A vote for Joe Hockey is a vote for uncertainty. Vote 1 Kevin Rudd”.

In fact, with Joe Hockey as leader, I fear that we will see a mass exodus from the Liberal Party over to the National Party. The coalition will dissolve. The Liberal party will become a truly “liberal” party, vying with Labor and the Greens for the left-wing vote, whilst the Nationals will expand their existing role as the true conservative party of the country and run candidate everywhere. It would be short-term turmoil and it would make for a very unpredictable election next year. In the long-run though, it could be precisely what the country needs, and even if the Nationals didn’t win the next election, they would probably hold enough seats, along with the Climate Sceptics party who must surely be in a stronger position thanks to Climategate, to kill off the ETS.

But that is long-term, and I am yet to find a politician who thinks far enough in to the future to risk running as a candidate for a different party in the next election…and besides, as I mentioned earlier, Joe doesn’t want to challenge, he wants the leadership handed to him in the same way that Peter Costello wanted the leadership handed to him.

That leaves Tony Abbott. What can I say? Tony’s a conservative through-and-through and (thankfully) opposes the ETS. I like Tony, but I’d much rather have Barnaby Joyce (I know, wrong party) simply because Barnaby, apart from being a conservative, actually has a noticeable personality. There are times when I wonder if Tony Abbott has left a cardboard cut-out of himself and a voice actor in Canberra and gone on a holiday. Tony would make a great Prime Minister, but I’m not convinced that he will be able to attract voters to the Liberal party…at least, not on his personality…but that might not be such a problem this time around.

Kevin Rudd can’t go to the next election of his personality again, because people know that he doesn’t have one. He has to go to the next election on policies, and with the ETS very likely to be delayed, the main point of the next election will be climate change. Unlike the global financial crisis, Kevin Rudd can’t bribe everyone with $900 and hope that they don’t notice that he has no idea what’s going on. This time he is proposing a massive new tax on everyone and everything. All that Tony Abbot and the Liberal party need to do in order to defeat that, is seize on the Climategate emails and the real data which shows that Australia and the planet have not warmed in the last decade, and show the ETS for what it is: a giant tax, and an instrument of socialism.

The polls already show that 60% of Australians oppose the ETS, so a “no ETS” stance backed up by the facts (or lack thereof) of global warming, plus information about how damaging the ETS is, should be enough to get a conservative party across the line, regardless of their leader’s lack of personality.

A quick side-note. Please don’t get me wrong here. I think Tony Abbott has a great sense of humour, I just don’t think he knows how to show it outside of the parliamentary chamber…and the majority of the country ignore the chamber.

There are two things which must be done in the coming two days. Firstly, people must continue (and start if you haven’t already) contact your Senators and urge them to oppose the ETS. I have contacted Gary Humphries’ office about this which, given Gary’s stance may have been a waste of my time, but also may help to make him oppose an ETS in any form, and I will contact Kate Lundy’s office, although I’m sure that contacting her Senatorialism will be a waste of time given her stance on the ETS, and the fact that I have previously written her a letter offering her an ancient Chinese curse. None-the-less, it must be done.

Secondly, the Liberal Party must appoint Tony Abbott or another true conservative as leader on Tuesday morning. If they fail to do this, then the conservatives must maintain their opposition to the ETS, block it, and break away to the National Party immediately. Failure to do so will result in the imposition of “the great green tax” (as Andrew Bolt put it on Insiders this morning) on the nation, and our utter collapse.

This is not a time for compromises, consensuses, moderation, or whatever you want to call it. This is a time for action based on what one knows to be true and just. This is a time for all politicians, not just conservatives, to stand up for the future of the country and oppose the ETS, and it is beholden on all of us out here in the public to ensure that our elected representatives know that we do not want, nor do we need, a huge climate tax that will not achieve a darn thing, except the collapse of our great nation.

The ETS must be opposed at all costs.

Samuel

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This week’s award goes to Laura Branigan, and the feature song is Self Control

Oh the night, is my world
City lights, painted girls
In the day, nothing matters
It’s the night time that flatters
In the night, no control
Through the wall, something’s breaking
Wearing white, as you’re walking
Down the street, of my soul

You take my self
You take my self-control
You got me living only for the night
Before the morning comes the story’s told
You take my self
You take my self-control

Another night
Another day goes by
I never stop myself to wonder why
You help me to forget to play my role
You take my self
You take my self-control

I
I live among the creatures of the night
I haven’t got the will to try and fight
Against a new tomorrow
So, I guess I’ll just believe it that tomorrow never comes

I said night
(You take myself, you take my self-control)
I’m living in the forest of a dream
(You take myself, you take my self-control)
I know the night is not as it would seem
(You take myself, you take my self-control)
I must believe in something so I’ll make myself believe it-
(You take myself, you take my self-control)
This night will never go

Ooo
Ooo
Ooo
Ooo
Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo

Oh the night, is my world
City lights, painted girls
In the day, nothing matters
It’s the night, time that flatters

(Oh the night, is my world)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(City lights, painted girls)
You got me living only for the night
(In the day, nothing matters)
Before the morning comes the story’s told
(It’s the night time that flatters)
You take my self, you take my self-control

I
I live among the creatures of the night
I haven’t got the will to try and fight, against a new tomorrow
So, I guess I’ll just believe it – tomorrow never knows
I said night
I’m living in the forest of a dream
I know the night is not as it would seem
I must believe in something so I’ll make myself believe it-
that this night will never go

Ooo
Ooo
Ooo
Ooo

(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control

(Ooo)
I
(ooo)
I live among the creatures of the night
(Ooo, ooo)
I haven’t got the will to try and fight
(Ooo, ooo)
I’m living in the forest of a dream
(Ooo, ooo)
I know the night is not as it would seem
(Ooo, ooo)
(Ooo, ooo)
City lights, painted girls
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control
(Ooo, ooo)
You take my self, you take my self-control

Samuel

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Ray Martin, as regular readers would know, is a media personality for whom I have a lot of respect. Those of you with really good memories would know that I don’t believe Carols By Candlelight will ever be as good as it used to be now that Ray no longer hosts it.

For these reasons and more, I am looking forward to Ray Martin’s appearance on Open House with Sheridan Voysey tonight. As Sheridan puts it:

This week on Open House hear Ray’s story–the impoverished childhood, the turbulent school years, and the dash across Australia that saved his life. He’ll reflect on his successes and regrets, and share insights into the world of popular media.

I don’t know what time Ray’s interview will air as it could be at any point in the three-hour show. I would recommend tuning in to the entire show between 8pm and 11pm AEDST, except that I can’t, as every time I do that on Facebook, the show seems to start by interviewing some far-left cuckoo-land person who declares people who share my opinions to be a “redneck”. That said, I quite enjoy sitting in a semi-soundproof studio yelling at said far-left cuckoo-land person. They might not be able to hear me, but at least their bizarre ramblings reinforce my knowledge of just how wrong they are.

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Your “Jerk of the Week” submission
The Maritime Union of Australia and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union

Why should this person be the “Jerk of the Week”?
For giving $10,000 to 78 illegal immigrants who have refused to leave an Australian Customs ship despite being offered “rapid resettlement” in Australia.

Your Name (Optional)
Samuel Gordon-Stewart

The usual stuff: Casey and Heather’s Jerk Of The Week airs at 6:09pm Thursday on Newsradio 840 KXNT in Las Vegas, which is (and will be for the next many months) 1:09pm Fridays in Canberra. Nominations can be submitted via the KXNT website.

Update: The segment has been moved for this week to 6:39pm/1:39pm, and is moving to a new time of 5:30ish/12:30ish next week

Update: Due to the breaking news of the Fort Hood shooter being confirmed as being alive and in a stable condition, and not dead as had been reported for hours and hours, Jerk Of The Week has been held over until tomorrow’s show.

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For the benefit of those of you who find yourself in a place where you can not watch the race on television or hear it on the radio, here is a list of webstreams which are known to be broadcasting the race live at 3pm Melbourne time (GMT+11).

Bigpond are allegedly streaming live video of the race at 3pm. I’m not sure how accurate this is though, as the other times I’ve seen live video streams offered of the race, they have not been live, but rather delayed until after the completion of the race, due to Seven’s rights to the live video.

Full results will be posted here at the completion of the race, including TAB dividends as they come in, and the full list of finishers in the order that they pass the post.

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Regular readers may notice a few minor changes to the site over the next 24 hours due to the Melbourne Cup. Melbourne Cup day is generally this blog’s busiest day of the year, mainly due to people searching for this year’s results and landing on the results of previous years. These temporary changes should make life easier for the mass influx, and make the large increase in traffic a bit more worthwhile for me.

In related news, yes, I’m behind, again…and it looks like Maritz has submitted a column and has written some rather confusing Melbourne Cup tip. I’m waiting for a clarification before publishing the column.